


Once Again, Please

by eff_reality



Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: Christmas, Eggnog, M/M, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-03 09:48:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2846633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eff_reality/pseuds/eff_reality
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Christmas 2015; Chris throws a holiday party. There's mistletoe. And Zach.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Once Again, Please

Zach takes an odd quiet moment to himself in the kitchen. Chris’ house is covered in fake garland, strewn with colored lights, and overpopulated with Frosty, Santa, and Rudolph figurines. There are “more tasteful” centerpieces on the kitchen counter and dining room and coffee tables, oversized, glittery Pottery Barn ornaments spread out floating along the surface of the pool. 

Once Chris’ family had run off to Palm Springs for the second year in a row, he’d decided to take matters into his own hands with a Christmas-in-LA Extravaganza. Zach has to hand it to him; he’s really taken the phrase _deck the halls_ to heart. Zach’s bound to find strings of tinsel everywhere when he gets into bed tonight, like showering after a long day at Santa’s beach.

He pours himself another mug of eggnog and checks for the host with the most, finding Chris out on the back deck, chatting animatedly with John and Karl, the white fuzzy ball on his Santa hat jumping as he shakes the both of them by the shoulders and hops away. His cheeks are flushed--or is that just a streak of red glitter?

Chris leans against the frame in the open doorway and looks at him. 

“Hello, Santa.”

“So, when are you moving back to LA?” he asks. It’s the third time tonight.

Zach giggles, gulps down half the eggnog, and wipes his mouth with his thumb and forefinger. “You are far too persistent.”

Chris crooks a long finger at him. “C’mere. Just for a second.”

Zach heaves a put-upon sigh and skeptically approaches. “Yes?”

“Hold on.” Chris grips him by the elbows and backs him into the opposite side of the doorframe, propping him up there, his mouth stretching into a wide, giddy smile.

“What?” Zach laughs. It _is_ red glitter on his cheek.

Chris leans in and whispers, “Look up.”

_Oh God._ Zach doesn’t even have to look up to know there’s a sprig of mistletoe hanging above their heads. “ _Pine._ You’ve got to be kidding me.” He can feel himself going hot in the face. He feels like he’s twenty-seven again, gangly and awkward and hopelessly hairy, at some bullshit networky industry thing. 

Chris slouches down in the doorway to make himself smaller, sharpening Zach’s nostalgia. His fingers curl into Zach’s shirtsleeves. “Come on, Catholic school boy. You are at a Christmas party, and it is tradition,” he says firmly.

Zach sighs again. “ _Fine._ ” _What the hell._ “You do look criminally fucking cute tonight.”

The word _tonight_ has barely left his mouth when Chris reels him in, fingers in his hair and mouth plush and soft as ever as it moves against his own. _YES! I called it!_ yells John somewhere in the background, his voice nothing but static fuzz in Zach’s ears as Chris sneaks his tongue into his mouth. Zach stumbles forward, catching himself with a hand smacked against the doorframe above Chris’ head, his other hand still suspending his half-empty mug of eggnog in mid-air. Chris’ hands are big and warm around his waist, sliding toward the small of his back. 

Zach had almost forgotten just how good he felt. Almost.

He pulls away, finding the area around them suspiciously empty. “And what was that about?” he murmurs. 

Chris scrunches up his nose. “Tradition. Like I said.” He glances up, pretending to rediscover the mistletoe. “Oh. Here we are again.”


End file.
